Hues of Hatred and Healing
By: Janell Lee, 1st Place Youth Essay Division
Once, when I was younger, just like every other little kid, I was told “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” That’s wrong though. Words do hurt. Words can hurt way more than sticks and stones ever can. See, sticks and stones can bruise and break you, but you heal after however long. Words though, words stick around much longer than any bruise can. They are wounds that dig under the skin and find a nook or corner to lodge themselves that don’t bother you until something draws them out, whether it be intentional or not. Wounds that become part of us in moments of weakness, something anyone can experience.
There are words though, that hurt more than others. Particularly ones that aim to target something that cannot be changed, like skin colour. In today’s society, these words fly around like magpies, darting in and out of the air, attacking on random or unseen hatred. They peck and punch and scar over, resulting in traumatic memories. The worse part is, it doesn’t stop. As long as there is ignorance and hatred and misinformation spread everywhere. Wounds like those don’t fade after 4 or 5 years, they last in the heart where every word winds its way in. They define you in the moment and you think “What am I worth? Is this all I am?”
Such things can circle and spread like wildfire. There is colourism in everyday life, a byproduct or child if you will, of racism. It is target-to-target oppression, it is the discrimination of others both made by those who rule and those that themselves feel oppressed. Call it a Russian doll of discrimination. The hues of skin, the feel of hair, the colour of eyes, these aren’t things that should define anyone, nonetheless define anyone. Things that cannot be changed, like birthmarks, are who make us into who we are. To attack those things is to attack who someone is as a person. Reaching out and nitpicking, by those who place hatred onto minorities, which in turns teaches the mentality of bullies: “If I am being made fun of, if I am not good enough, then neither are you. If I cannot live peacefully, no one shall.”
This mentality must be stopped, the throwing of words around like verbal sticks and stones is not just a child’s rhyme anymore. It is more than that, it has always been more than that. There are just too many blind to see it, and stop it. We all stop singing rhymes at a certain point in our lives, an age where we are introduced into the real world and told “no, words can hurt you, often more than weapons do.” So many have to wonder when or if they will be hit with such weapons, the ones that leave no visible marks, and if they do, how true they are. Today, we must show those who have been teased and bullied and marked as less than for things they cannot and should not have to feel bad about or change, that they are perfect. Today is the day to offer a hand to help lift up those put down and offer words that caress and care rather than beat and bruise. Today starts as the day where nursery rhymes are left in the past, in childhood memories, in a time where that is all they were.
About the Author: Janell Lee is from Montclair, NJ where she lives with her mom. She’s a soon to be college student at Hofstra University, studying pre-veterinary science and some form of art. Janell started writing poetry around the 7th grade. “All of my family writes poetry, so it was something I had always grown up with. Our house was filled with books at all times, so I grew up reading and absorbing information at a young age.” Along with reading, Janell also likes to focus her interests in fencing, painting, archery and community service. “In the future, I really just want to help out in any way that I can, no matter how small.” Janell hopes to gain knowledge in multiple fields during college and one day own a tea & book shop in Portland, OR.